Correctional officers are responsible for overseeing individuals who have been arrested and are awaiting trial or who have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to serve time in a jail, reformatory, or penitentiary.  A correctional officer’s job can be very stressful.  The correctional officer’s job is stressful because of the personal safety and booking of inmates.  The Occupational Outlook Handbook 2000 describes the correctional officer’s career as an exciting and open job field.

            Many correctional officers are employed in large State and Federal prisons.  Some work in the county jails or detention centers.  The duties of some correctional officers are maintain order, enforce rules, search inmates, settle disputes between inmates.  Many officers’ work unarmed, but has access to restraints like handcuffs and leg irons.  Correctional officers work eight hour days, five days a week, and on rotating shifts. 

            Most institutions require that correctional officers be at least eighteen to twenty-one.  They must have a high school education or equivalent, no felony convictions, and be a United States citizen.  The officers must be in good health, meet physical fitness requirements, eyesight and hearing tests.  If they work at the Federal or State levels, many are required to go to the Academy for further training.  The officers are required to undergo two hundred hours of formal training within the first year of employment.  They must also complete one hundred and twenty hours at the Federal Bureau Prison in Georgia.

            Job opportunities for correctional officers are expected to be favorable.  The medial earnings in 1998 were 28,540.  The lowest earnings were less than 18,810. The benefits for working as a correctional officer are very prosperous with service of twenty to twenty-five years.  The correctional officers endure a lot of stress, but the job is very beneficial.

Stacy O'Dell